A Pod of Peas, Wilson and Iron Man

Halloween at the Commons

For our fourth consecutive year, we decided to participate in the Halloween party at Andy's work (Microsoft), which is held in a building called The Commons.  Every year that we have attended this party our kids have had a good time.  This year was a first as the party was actually held a few days before Halloween.  My theory is that this increased the attendance.  The place was packed... more so than Disneyland felt for most of the time we were there.  It was also pouring rain outside, which meant that we opted out of the little train that they have.  But we still had a lot of fun!

The day of the party also marked the release of the Microsoft Surface.  There was a mascot there to promote it and take pictures of the kids.  I think Ephram was having fond memories of Disneyland - he was so excited to go say hello!

There was an area with arcade games set-up.  We spent quite a bit of time there.

The best part was when Ephram threw this Skee Ball on top of the game.  I had no idea he had the arm to throw something that heavy that high.  And yes, I'd gone over how to roll it.  And yes, that was his last ball for the day.

Ephram was also very creative at this ring toss.  He found that it was most important to create a pretty pattern.

Charlie and Ephram posing in the arcade area.

Macie was just happy.

We also got some balloon animals.  Charlie surprised us by asking the artist for a snake.  He got a really cool one.

Ephram had an attack of nerves when it was his turn to ask, so Andy requested a sword.  Ephram loved it once he was no longer the center of attention.

Whenever we go to Microsoft, we always have to get some drinks out of the cooler.  The kids think that it is so cool that Daddy can drink all the chocolate milk (Charlie) and apple juice (Ephram) that he wants all day long.  I am slightly jealous of the Diet Dr Pepper.  But I also remember when I worked there, the allure of the free drinks wore off after a couple of weeks.

After this we opted out of the family picture because the kids were starting to meltdown.  Instead, we went off to let them trick or treat at all the vendors in the building.  We had a great time at the party this year, and will surely attend next year's as well!

True Story: Halloween Kovar Kids

You probably haven't noticed this, but I love to take pictures of my kids for holidays.
Okay, so it's obvious.

But taking pictures of an autistic child, a toddler and a baby -  all in the same place, at the same time, not melting down, not hungry, not tired and actually willing to smile - is challenging.  Very challenging.  So challenging at the stages they were all in this October that I was 100% positive that it would not work out on the day of Halloween.  Surely on Halloween, we could anticipate meltdowns from all three due to anticipation, over-sugaring and overstimulation.

(Yes, my prediction was correct as evidenced on the 31st.)

I am so glad that I can take decent pictures of them, because if I had to rely on studios, we would not have many pictures with them all together in the frame.  You will notice in posts-to-follow that we failed to obtain a single picture of all three costumes together.  Not even a bad picture.  They would not get together in the same frame with those costumes on.  Period.

This year, I decided we had a two week window to get Halloween pictures done.  For two weeks I kept the boys' Halloween shirts and Macie's Halloween dress and headband downstairs on the counter.  There they sat, ready to grab and throw on the kids when the miraculous alignment of picture-perfect happiness would occur.  I straightened my bed every morning, and cleared off the neighboring night stands, so that my scene would be set.  (Really, these are things I should do every morning... but I don't.)

The first week gave me nothing.  I thought about putting the outfits away.  One morning I came downstairs without making the bed, and didn't go back up and do it when Macie took her first nap either.  In fact, I thought about crawling back in bed instead.  Did I mention the autistic child, the toddler and the baby?  Some of my days are so challenging that it takes me a couple to recover.

And then it finally happened.  Charlie had a great day at school and did his homework quickly.  Ephram actually took a nap that morning so he was not experiencing his afternoon cranks.  And Macie woke up from her nap just as their snack was starting.  So I nursed her during their snack and then grabbed the outfits and put them on.  Even the discovery of Ephram's dirty diaper did not stop us.  I had to bribe Charlie with a dollar.  (Usually it is Ephram that takes the bribing, but he ran away before I'd even got his pants on and went to my room where he started self-posing this time.)  They gave me 23 full minutes of photo-taking bliss - yes this is my bliss.  Then Macie let me know that we were done.  Five minutes later she was peacefully sleeping in her swing.  Success.

And that is the true story of how I got these precious pictures.  So, next time you look at pictures of my kids and think, "Wow, they look so happy.  They're always smiling."  Just know that I may have worked hard to make that happen.  I may have waited them out.  It may (probably) be set-up.

Just being real.  Because blogs are so often un-real perfect presentations of our imperfect lives.

Here are my littles, ready for Halloween, six days early.
(And Boone, too.)

Meet the Rowley's

My youngest sister, Liel, met, engaged and wed a man in the last year.  Most of my family met Will at Christmastime in 2011.  Alas, I was pregnant and we didn't travel to California for Christmas last year.  (And now that we have three kids, two with December birthdays that make the month even more hectic, that will be a rare occasion.)  They were engaged shortly after and got married this past April, just after Macie came home from the NICU.  Obviously, I wasn't able to take my preemie on a plane to attend.  I was sad to miss it, but so happy for my sister and new brother-in-law.

Liel has been pretty good about coming to see us here in Washington.  Actually, I think she and my brother are now tied for having visited us the most of all of our family members.  She and Will planned a trip to see us the first weekend of October.  Apparently, there was also a Grizzly Bear concert that they wanted to attend.  I had never heard of Grizzly Bear before, because I very rarely hear of any new musicians now... but, now that I know about them, I really like them too.

All of us, kids and parents, were excited for Liel and Will to come.  They were here for a few days and we mostly stayed home... Liel and Will did some sightseeing of their own in Seattle.  My kids loved them.  Ephram especially loved untying his Uncle Will's shoes.  I'm not sure that Will loved that, but he was a good sport about it.

We had a good visit with the Rowley's.  Liel seemed happy, and Will fit right in with us.  The kids missed them when they left, but it helped them to know we'd leave for California the next day.  Hopefully we will see them again soon!

A Fall Walk

I love fall.
It is my favorite season.
Hands down, no contest.
I love the colors, the smells, the feeling
The anticipation of an approaching holiday season.
Apple desserts,
And pumpkin too.

Every year I do my best to appreciate the beauty of what is happening outside.
And I try to make sure my kids do too.

This year was a bit more challenging,
With another tiny one's schedule to work around
And a big break from the changing leaves as we vacationed in California.

So we got outside the first chance we had.
And it was beautiful.

Yard Work?

We are lucky to have a stand of trees behind our house.  They aren't actually on our property, they're controlled by our HOA, but we get the benefit of looking at them all year long.  We also get to watch all their pretty leaves turn colors, and then... fall.  Along with them, we have a few leaf-dropping trees in our yard.  So every year we watch the leaves turn color.  Every year we watch them fall.  They start to drop slowly at first, and then they come off in large groups and make what Charlie calls "leaf tornados".  After a couple weeks of rapid dropping, they slow down again.  And then we get to rake a lot of leaves.

Get to?  Yep... look at how much fun Andy, Charlie and Boone had doing leaf clean-up this year!